


Before the Veil

by Donna_Immaculata



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Blood, Dark Magic, F/M, Rare Pairing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-22
Updated: 2011-12-22
Packaged: 2017-10-27 19:52:39
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,055
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/299441
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Donna_Immaculata/pseuds/Donna_Immaculata
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In order to bring back Sirius Black, Lupin and Snape resort to a dark ritual.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Before the Veil

Darkness crept in from all corners of the rectangular room, crawling slowly, mercilessly, along the walls and over the stone floor like a huge beast advancing on its prey. Although there was no wind, the flames of the candles flickered slightly, casting long, dancing shadows on the dark walls. In the archway, the veil was fluttering softly, but Remus Lupin refused to look at the archway before the preparations were completed. The candles were all lit; he could trust Severus to perform the necessary tasks minutely.

When he leaned over to check whether the leather bounds were firmly in place, Remus gained a glimpse of the pale face and dark eyes, set with rage. The expression of primal hatred had remained frozen on her face since the moment Remus had petrified her, but there was also something else, something vaguely unsettling in those black eyes. Remus didn't stop to investigate the shimmer of fierce triumph and began to slowly walk around the wide circle encompassing the altar and the archway with the fluttering veil: a magnetised iron chain and three garlands composed of the foliage and blossoms of the myrtle, the olive and the rose. Within the circle, a pentagram had been drawn, with parallel lines of azure blue, golden yellow, emerald green and purple red. A copper tripod, perfectly triangular and filled with incenses, had been set up behind the archway. The scent of burned henbane, saffron, wormwood, horehound and mandrake alone would have been enough to give Remus a headache, but in combination with hemlock, it made him want to vomit.

"Ready?" sounded a low voice at his ear. In the eerie silence, even the softly spoken words created an echo that reverberated between the empty stone seats and the archway. Remus turned and nodded.

"Are you sure you know what you're doing?"

Remus nodded again. "Are you sure you want to... carry it through?"

Snape's mouth curved up in an imitation of a smile. "Stop questioning my motives, Lupin," he said simply. He pushed past the other man and stepped to the altar they had established in front of the archway. The fluttering veil just brushed the wooden table every now and then. Snape ignored it and shifted the position of the red candle.

"It's time," he said.

Remus stepped closer and looked down at the bound figure spread on top of the altar.

"She won't cooperate," said Snape. Remus nodded.

"Not willingly, no," he answered. "But.. there are ways."

"We might have to kill her."

"I'm sure no-one could blame us if we did."

Snape measured him with a long, calculating look. "You are prepared," he said. It wasn't a question.

When he received no answer, Snape's hand moved past Remus and grabbed the torch from beside the altar. He slithered back into shadows in the next moment, only the silky sound of his swishing cloak indicated where he went. The torch light was swallowed by the rich darkness that surrounded them. From outside the circle, his voice floated to Remus: "Un-gag her."

"I am," came Remus' belated answer seemingly from far away. "I will do it." His body tensed and his features sharpened, like a man's coming up from a trance, and with one confident movement, he pulled off the blanket covering their sacrifice and lifted his wand. "Enervate!" The thin body of the woman bound to the altar jerked, twisted, as though trying to hide from the man's cold gaze, but as there was no escape, she changed her tactics and in the next moment was spreading herself out shamelessly, legs parted and back arched.

"Bellatrix," said Lupin softly, tracing one finger along her jaw. "You know what I want from you." With a sharp tug, he pulled out the gag from her mouth. She threw her head back and howled with mad laughter.

"Poor werewolf, lost your pack mate!" she shrieked, tossing her head from one side to the other, her eyes glinting in the light of the candles. "And you think I will help you to get him back?" She laughed again, high and shrill, the dark cavern of her mouth gaping like a hellish abyss.

"Yes," said Remus. His gaze travelled down her exposed, writhing body. "So I think."

"Over my dead body, werewolf!" she spat, black hair sticking to her face and neck, slick with sweat in spite of the clammy coolness of the room.

"Funny you should say that..."

She lifted her torso up as far as the bounds allowed and bore her burning gaze into him. "He is dead," she hissed gleefully. "Dead and rotten and gone, and nothing you'll do to me can make him come back!"

"That's not quite true," Remus said calmly. His fingers danced over the fastenings of his robe as he continued speaking. "You didn't kill him, Bellatrix. You banished him. Sent him away, to the domain of the dead. But he wasn't dead. He isn't dead. He's trapped." Remus stripped of his cloak and threw it into the darkness, out of the circle drawn around the altar. "He's trapped and you will help me bring him back."

She raised herself on one elbow, her other shoulder and arm twisted in an awkward angle due to the restriction of the leather bound. "Never," she whispered, and there was so much unadulterated hatred in her voice that Remus froze involuntarily. "You won't make me. You can't make me! You don't know how!"

"Oh, but _I_ know," sounded a cold voice from the other side of the altar, and Snape stepped into the circle and into the light.

Bellatrix' eyes widened in shock. " _You_!" she gasped. Her upper lip curled up in a snarl that revealed sharp teeth, gleaming in the torch light, and Bellatrix tossed and writhed with fierce desperation. Remus raised his voice to make himself understood against the continuous stream of curses and insults that floated from her mouth.

"Are you sure we don't have to kill her straightaway?"

"Yes," said Snape, "She has to die when the time is right, because otherwise the ritual will be disturbed. It takes time for the - the portal to expand to include the space within this circle. But it will happen when this altar is used for human sacrifice. As you proceed, the circle will seal itself from the outer world and become part of the gateway to the world behind the veil." He adjusted one candle with a steady hand and carried on. Remus got the impression Snape was talking to calm his own nerves and to assure himself that everything would go as planned, and he didn't interrupt. "Human sacrifice," Snape repeated, thoughtfully. "That was the original purpose of this place. Deepest and darkest magic from the dawn of time." He fell silent for a moment, staring into the void, and then turned around rapidly and bore his burning gaze into Bellatrix. She had gone very still. "It is of the utmost importance that you know what you're doing, Lupin."

"When I kill her, the border between _here_ and _there_ will be dissolved. Sirius will be able to step out from behind the veil." Remus turned to Bellatrix. "And you, as his blood relative as well as his murderer, will provide the necessary connection that will tell him where to go," he said by way of explanation.

"Never!"

"Oh yes!" Remus tugged a bond and tautened it. "You will."

"He will still be dead!" She hissed. "As will you! This circle will become part of the domain of death! You will be trapped in the afterlife, and no-one-" She broke off and her eyes widened. "No!" she whispered. "You can't-"

"I can and I will," Snape's voice regained its customary coldness. "I, too, have been trained how to... _eat death_ ," he bared his teeth in a nasty grin. "When the ritual is completed, I will open the circle and bring you back. All three of you."

Bellatrix' eyes narrowed and she pulled desperately on her bounds. "Traitor! Filth!" she spat, writhing helplessly. "We all knew you betrayed our Lord! But now you're selling our secrets, his secrets, to scum like this?! Filthy half-breeds... blood traitors... You have fallen deep, Snape, deeper than anyone could have suspected!"

"You watch your mouth-" Snape began, but was cut short by Remus.

"We had better begin."

"I might not succeed to open the circle for everyone-" Snape's eyes were cold and narrow.

"Did you hear this, Bellatrix?" Lupin turned to her. "You better cooperate."

"I won't do anything to help you, werewolf!"

Remus nodded. "We'll see about that."

Snape disappeared in the darkness again, and Remus knew, though he couldn't see beyond the border of the circle, that he stood on the edge of the dais. It was absurd that the knowledge that Snape was looking on should make the whole task easier, and yet it did. Remus suppressed a sigh and stripped off his robe in one smooth motion. The cool air grazed his exposed skin and he shivered slightly. Bellatrix had gone quiet and was watching him from those hooded eyes of hers. Her gaze travelled over his thin chest and stomach, travelled lower to where his fingers were busy undoing his trouser buttons, and stopped dead when reaching the trail of dark hair disappearing under the waistband of his trousers.

Her gaze snapped back to his face, disbelief spreading across her features.

Remus shed his trousers and kicked them beyond the borders of the circle. Naked, he stepped closer into the circle of light provided by the three ceremonial candles on the altar. Prominent collar and hipbones jutted out in stark contrast to the shadowed hollows above his collar bone and beneath his ribs. It wasn't his sickly physical appearance, though, which made Bellatrix' throat contract and her muscles weaken. It was the expression of intent concentration on his face.

"You can't!" whispered Bellatrix. "You won't!"

"I can and I will," said Remus calmly. He flattened a palm against her chest bone, fitting his thumb beneath the curve of her soft, white breast. "Unfortunately, all ancient magical rituals require plenty of blood and... sex." With his free hand, he reached around to the far end of the altar from where he produced a sharp dagger, glinting menacingly in the candle light. "And you have been our first choice to provide both." He grinned, and Bellatrix flinched.

In the next moment, she narrowed her eyes and, looking down on him pointedly, snorted, "You aren't man enough to use me, werewolf!" She arched up in another vain attempt to free herself from the bonds, and spat: "Not man enough to face a powerful witch, Remus! Not after my cousin made you his bitch!"

"There is only one bitch in this room at the moment." Remus moved his hand, sliding it up to cup her breast in an oddly tender gesture. Bellatrix couldn't suppress a shudder when his rough palm made contact with her nipple. "Can you guess who it is?"

His other hand moved to grip his cock and he started coaxing himself to hardness in slow, lazy strokes. Bellatrix clenched her teeth painfully. Remus' eyes roamed her body, making her feel exposed and vulnerable, and in spite of herself, in spite of everything she'd always believed in, the fact that she was entirely at his mercy sent a shiver of excitement down her spine. Her nipple hardened under his hand. Remus raised one eyebrow. "Getting there, I see," he said in a low, even voice. The hand on his cock sped up and even without looking down Bellatrix knew that he was fully hard now. The throbbing vein on his neck and the way he had parted his lips, ever so slightly, to get more air were tell-tale indicators of his arousal.

Remus slid on top of the altar and leaned over her, supporting his weight on the hand braced against her chest. He placed the dagger carefully beside her and reached down between her wide-spread legs. Bellatrix suppressed a shiver when his hand brushed against the inside of her thigh. Her eyes darted towards his cock and her mouth went dry. Her memories of lust and fulfilment had been wiped out in Azkaban, but her body hadn't forgotten. It was now arching up towards Remus' hands of its own accord. Bellatrix hissed in frustration.

"What now, wolf-boy?" she spat in his face. "Will you force me to give in to you?"

"If I must." Remus flattened his palm on her stomach. "But I don't think it'll be necessary." His hand trailed lower until it met the thick dark hair at the apex of her thighs. Bellatrix gasped, and gasped again as his weight was suddenly removed from her and he sat back on his heels. Remus looked her straight in the eyes as he reached for the dagger. Accompanied by a constant current of curses from Bellatrix' mouth, he brought the tip of the dagger against her white belly, drawing dark blood. It looked almost obscenely rich against the unearthly pallor of her skin as it trickled down her stomach and flanks. She twisted and screamed, her tied legs kicking out in desperation, and all of a sudden, there was a wand in his hand and with a flick of his wrist, he tightened the bonds tying her to the altar yet again. "Shh," he said, "it's no use."

The dagger danced across her skin, drawing complicated patterns between her navel and her breasts. Completely ignoring her wild thrashing, Remus eyed the results of his work carefully before he put down the dagger and lowered himself back onto her. "I'm going to fuck you now," he said. Bellatrix let out a howl of ferocious laughter.

"What, wolf-boy? Am I your virgin sacrifice?"

"I very much doubt it." Remus pressed one hand against her cunt. The tip of his index finger slid inside, just so. Bellatrix gasped. "You know, tradition likes using virgins merely because of the blood supposedly drawn during defloration. But I understand," the finger moved deeper inside with maddening slowness, "that when force is applied, any woman will bleed."

"Going to rape me, werewolf?" Bellatrix' eyes glowed in the candle light like a cat's. She arched her back, panting. "Go on, release the beast!"

"Only if I must," Remus repeated. "You've got the option to cooperate." He pushed his finger all the way inside. Bellatrix groaned hotly and pushed down on his hand.

"Never!"

He curled his finger, slightly, feeling deep inside her. The heel of his hand pressed against the sensitive flesh between her wide-spread legs, rubbing and grounding against the moist folds until she writhed helplessly. Remus pulled his finger back and held it out to her. It was glistening with her wetness, and she panted, feeling flushed and heavy, and more aroused than she'd ever been in her life.

Smiling that twisted little smile of his, Remus brought his finger to her face, under her nose. "That's right, Bellatrix, smell yourself on me." Her nostrils flared, her lips parted, and Remus laid his finger across her lust-swollen mouth. "Ah!" he jerked back his hand in the next moment. Bellatrix' head fell back, mouth open in a silent grin, as Remus examined the imprints her sharp teeth had left. Blood trailed down his finger lazily, blood covered her lips which stood out almost black against her face. She was watching him from half-lidded eyes.

"My blood against yours, wolf-boy."

Without another word, Remus thrust his finger back inside her. " _Fuck_!" She spat and bit her lip. A second finger was added, moving in and out in a steady rhythm. Remus' gaze never left her face, taking in every single spasm, every twitch of mouth or brow. When he added another finger, Bellatrix whole body trembled and she came up from the table. He lowered his head, soft hair brushed against her face.

"I told you you would cooperate," he whispered in her ear, and the low, dark tone of his voice sent another shiver through her body. "Like a good girl." Remus' lips were cold and dry against her ear, and the finger rubbing her flesh in slow circles was cold and wet, and Bellatrix turned her head towards him and spat into his face and with a throaty, breathless laugh, licked her spit from his stubble-rough cheek. Remus remained in place, motionless but for his slowly moving hand, and Bellatrix laughed again, sending moist puffs of breath against his skin as she lapped across his mouth. His eyes impossibly dark, Remus pressed his hand on her mouth once again. "Lick."

The inside of his palm tasted like salt and vinegar under her tongue. Its tip stroke around the hard callouses that had rubbed so deliciously against her, and up his finger. The copper taste of blood mingled with the sweetness of her own juices, and when Bellatrix licked the corner of her mouth, slowly, deliberately, his eyes glazed over with lust, and she knew she had won. Remus' erection was unbearably hot and hard against her thigh, which she ground against him. His lips parted, but no sound escaped him when he pulled away from her. Bellatrix' laughter, wild and high-pitched, was the only sound audible in the deadly calm of the room. Her eyes gleamed at the sight of the thin thread of precome that glistened between her thigh and his cock like some obscene umbilical cord. "I want to taste it, wolf-boy," she whispered hoarsely.

Remus cursed harshly and moved inside her in one firm stroke. Throwing her head back, Bellatrix snarled like a cat. Fingers curled up to resemble animal claws, she thrust her head wildly from one side to the other, inky black hair clinging to her sweat-damp face and neck. Remus kept perfectly still, watching her howl her burning anger away, his chest rising and falling with quick, shallow gasps.

Bellatrix gave one deep moan and fell back, her limbs suddenly soft and weak. Open-mouthed, she sucked in air as though drowning. "Don't think you've won, wolf-boy," she hissed. His face carefully blank, Remus pulled out and pushed back again. Sharply. "Fuck!" Bellatrix' hipbones bruised the soft flesh of his abdomen as her back came up from the altar. " _Fuck_!"

With another forceful thrust, Remus buried himself deeply inside her body, and paused. His hand came up holding the dagger, and he with the other, he gripped Bellatrix' hair and pulled her head back to stop her from spitting in his face. The blade grazed the soft skin between her breasts.

"Fuck you, Remus!" She panted hotly, every word ripped from deep inside her chest. "For this, you will die!"

Her blood looked a deep shade of black, meandering its way down her ribcage. Remus traced a pattern around her left breast. "Gemine cruento," he muttered. Bellatrix shrieked as bloody trails appeared on her right breast also, even though it remained untouched by his dagger. "Diffunde sanguinem," Remus continued, his hand sliding higher up her torso, to her neck, the tip of the dagger stopping at the pulse point at the base of her throat. He yanked her head back by the hair and she fell back with a moan that turned into a howl of rage. The paths of blood that covered her left side pulsed with the beat of her heart, mirrored accurately by the trails that etched themselves into her flesh on the right.

The thin blade cut gently into the tender skin of her throat. Bellatrix swallowed convulsively, her breathing flat, as she locked her gaze with his. His eyes were fathomless.

"Go on, Remus," she rasped, "you know you want it. Kill me!" She stretched her neck, exposing her throat even more, pushing against the dagger. "You want it!"

Remus yanked his hand back as though burned. "No." He shook his head. "You will help me carry it through to the end."

The blade danced along her abused skin again, but Remus' hand stopped before it reached her breast. It stood out from amidst the blood, white and proud, and Remus frowned and lowered his head and licked across her taut nipple with the flat of his tongue. His hand let go of her hair and snaked around her waist, and he pulled her closer, ignoring the blood smearing his chest. Bellatrix' cry rose into a blood-curling howl when he sucked in her nipple sharply and tugged on it with his teeth. In her attempt to get away from the - _torture_ , she began to thrash wildly once again, only managing to impale herself more deeply on his cock.

Remus rolled his hips.

By the time he finished cutting open the skin of her breasts, Bellatrix' cries of rage and lust had been reduced to a hoarse whimper. Her eyes no longer held any reflection of human emotions, whilst her hips thrust out fiercely to meet his. The hollow moans pressed out of her lungs by the impact of their fuck mingled with the words of the incantation Remus panted out erratically, "Colpriziana. Offina. Alta nestra. Fuaro menut..."

The candles flickered, hissed and - died, as the veil fluttered and rose as though lifted by a heavy gust of wind, fully revealing the archway for a split of a second. And then, as Bellatrix shivered violently in his arms, rattled by the force of her orgasm, Remus caught one glimpse of the hidden portal, saw darkness so thick and deep that it seemed almost corporeal pour towards him from behind the veil, and as he emptied himself in Bellatrix' body with one final thrust, the heavy darkness swallowed the altar, the woman and himself, and he knew he -

died.

Then, it was all emptiness. Remus blinked once, twice, and rose shakily to his feet - only he didn't feel as though he was standing, he seemed to be suspended in midair, held upright in some sort of soft substance, omnipresent and sticky, and he felt like padded in cotton wool, or maybe like being under water, and he couldn't breathe, but he didn't have to, didn't have to - and then he saw that he saw nothing, no darkness, no whiteness - nothing, yet there were shadows moving, gliding towards him like Dementors, and then there was a greedy, pulling sensation as though his life was being sucked out of him, and the shadows grew stronger, and he felt he was dissolving to resemble the foggy nothingness around him, and then -

there was pain.

Remus' eyes snapped open and he rolled onto his side, gasping for breath. His lungs burned and he coughed and inhaled deeply, struggling to get his breath back. When he looked around, he realised he must have fallen from the altar; the hard stone floor beneath him was cold as ice, and he hoisted himself up, shaking his head bemusedly.

A faint glow indicated the line of the circle, clearly separating the inside from the outside.

Remus stood outside.

Darkness hovered inside its borders, and Remus couldn't so much as see the archway. Beside him Bellatrix' thin frame was spread on the cold ground. He checked her pulse automatically, but it was clear that must be alive. Obviously, Severus had managed to pull them both out. Still dizzy, Remus snatched up his robe and draped it over his shoulders and walked slowly towards the dark figure hunched at the foot of the dais.

Snape was kneeling on the stone floor. He had taken off his cloak, which was wrapped around - someone, and Remus' heart skipped a beat. He could see the other person had very dark hair and a very white face, and it was-

"Sirius."

Snape' head jerked up and he turned around to look at Remus. His face was ghostly pale, but his eyes looked more alive than Remus had ever seen them.

"He's alive, Remus," Snape said, and, startling at the sound of his own voice, he cleared his throat and repeated - this time with the customary edge of cold disdain, "He's alive."

Behind him, Bellatrix stirred and moaned, but Remus didn't move. He remained frozen on the spot, staring down at the still figure of Sirius Black in Snape's arms, and Snape was staring at him, his hands clutching fistfuls of Sirius' robes, as though anchoring him to himself, to life.


End file.
